What it is

The protection of intellectual property is a big concern with materials that are found online. Videos, photos, and published material are often used, and abused, despite most everything being covered by copyright laws. Some of this happens intentionally, where plagiarism and downright theft of material is committed almost every minute of every hour, and other times it is done innocently by people simply not understanding the rules of copyright an d fair use.

Creative Commons licensing provides the public to use material with various levels of restrictions. It can be confusing to someone new to the concept of sharing information freely, so I found an info graphic that explains what each of the different licenses mean, as shown below:

Where to Find It

So now that we know what it is, where can we find material that is free to use? Creative Commons makes that easy for us through their own search engine called Creative Commons Search. Simply go to the link and type into the search bar what you are looking for.

There are a number of sites in which to search, including Google and Flickr to name a few. This search engine will provide you media which you can use under the above stated licenses, enabling you to safely add photos or videos to your blog (for example) without needing to worry about copyright infringement. Just be sure to properly source your work to give credit, where credit is due!

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Shauna Sasaki

I fell into teaching over 22 years ago and haven't looked back. Although I had never planned on getting into this profession, I discovered that I loved it and have never felt that I was teaching. Opening the world of possibilities to my students, and giving them support to be able to reach out far to achieve their goals, is where my passion in teaching lies.